OTTUMWA, IA – There's been an outstanding brand of basketball played around these parts for several decades, but never once has a team made more than 21 three-pointers in a single game.
Until Wednesday night.
It was raining outside the Hellyer Center during the game, and inside the Warriors were raining down trifectas against visiting Marshalltown as IHCC set an all-time standard for 3-pointers in a single game with 23 en route to a 110-59 victory over the Tigers.
"We made shots tonight," said Warrior Head Coach Hank Plona after his squad won its fifth straight to move to 13-2. "I mean, I'm no Indian Hills historian, but 23 is right up there. That's a pretty high number. We can really break some people's backs, and I think we kind of did that to them tonight."
After a Tyem Freeman dunk to start the scoring on the evening, the Warriors gave a hint of what was to come as the next five IHCC buckets came from distance in rapid succession, with a pair each coming from Curtis Jones and Tyrese Nickelson and another from Levar Williams as the hosts established a 17-10 working margin.
As Plona is fond of reminding folks, the offense may get the headlines, but it's the defense that ends up as the catalyst that creates those offensive opportunities, and that was the case again versus MCC.
"I thought our defense led to a lot of fast break points and I didn't think we really had to run much half-court offense," Plona explained. "For sure, our defense led to the offense, and it obviously doesn't hurt when you're making shots like that."
In total, Indian Hills threw in 12 of 21 attempts from 3-point range in the first half in steamrolling their way to a 60-27 lead at intermission. The second half proved to be more of the same from the Warriors as they dialed up 11 more treys on their way to 23-of-45 shooting from beyond the arc (.511).
The 3-point parade toppled the previous record total of 21 that was set by Plona's first IHCC squad against Southeastern on February 3, 2016.
The failed strategy that the Tigers employed Wednesday had them putting their focus into stopping leading scorer Freeman and Chris Payton on the inside, which opened the door for the perimeter attack from the Warriors.
"Their game plan clearly was too hung up on those two guys, and we try to have five guys on the floor at all times that can make you pay," Plona said. "I give Chris and Tye a lot of credit because they weren't getting a ton of touches, and yet they still made the right plays, they still do their job, they still play really hard, and obviously Levar Williams, Taj Anderson, Tyrese Nickelson and Curt Jones, and towards the end of the game Trey Harris, were making shots, making them pay for closing in on those two guys. We'll take whatever we get on offense. It's a team effort."
For the second consecutive contest, Jones led the Warriors on the scoreboard with 26 points on 7-for-10 shooting from 3-point range.
"Obviously in the last couple games, Curt has figured out how to find the times to attack, so his offensive game continues to improve," Plona explained. "He's been defending and rebounding and running the show for us all year. I know it's easy to talk about the guys that score, and rightfully so. It's not easy to do. But now that Curt is starting to put it all together, I think that his play is certainly something that can elevate us to a whole other level."
Anderson wasn't far behind Jones with 22 points with six triples. Williams and Nickelson each tossed in four threes on their way to 18 and 16 points, respectively. Freeman collected another double-double with 10 points to go with 11 rebounds to round out the Warrior scorers in double figures. Payton just missed a double-double with eight points and a team-leading 13 boards.
MCC, now losers of four straight after starting the season 7-1, was led by David Roberts, Jr.'s 19 points. Nuha Sagnia had 13 and Di'Ablo Stewart added 11.
Indian Hills still sits alone atop the ICCAC standings at 13-2, one-half game ahead of second place DMACC. In third is Saturday afternoon's opponent, Iowa Lakes, at 10-5.
"Iowa Lakes is always well coached, they always shoot the ball well, they never beat themselves," Plona added. "We haven't played them in a couple of years but they're always a really good challenge. They came down here two years ago and beat an eighth-ranked Western Nebraska team in one of our weekend classics. They're always very prepared, so it'll be a challenge for us, but one I think we're looking forward to.
Game time Saturday against the Lakers is set for 3 p.m.